Effects of Australia's MAAL and DPT on Internet-Based Businesses

Tax Notes Int’l, Volume 83, Number 2, p. 145, July 11, 2016

8 Pages Posted: 15 Aug 2016

See all articles by Antony Ting

Antony Ting

University of Sydney

Tommaso Faccio

Nottingham University Business School

Jeffery M. Kadet

University of Washington - School of Law

Date Written: July 11, 2016

Abstract

Australia has received considerable attention as a result of its unilateral actions to discourage multinational profit shifting. Those actions include the 2015 enactment of the Multinational Anti-Avoidance Law and the Australian Treasury’s May 2016 proposal for a diverted profits tax. This article considers how those actions might affect non-Australian multinational entities that conduct internet platform services for, and earn revenues from, Australian customers if those MNEs take no action. It also reviews structural alternatives.

As will be seen from the example set out in the article, the Australian royalty withholding tax is a major portion of the possible tax increases resulting from these developments. This will have a major impact on the economics of profit-shifting structures involving revenues that require on-the-ground sales, marketing, and other support activities in Australia. Australia’s actions, along with similar actions by the U.K., should be closely examined and may well be followed by numerous other countries feeling the effects of aggressive profit-shifting structures.

Keywords: Australia, DPT, Diverted Profits Tax, Profit Shifting, International Taxation, Internet Platform, MAAL, Multinational Anti-Avoidance Law, Google

JEL Classification: H21, H25, K34, E62

Suggested Citation

Ting, Antony and Faccio, Tommaso and Kadet, Jeffery M., Effects of Australia's MAAL and DPT on Internet-Based Businesses (July 11, 2016). Tax Notes Int’l, Volume 83, Number 2, p. 145, July 11, 2016, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2815782

Antony Ting

University of Sydney ( email )

Building H69 Codrington Street
Sydney, NSW 2006
Australia

Tommaso Faccio

Nottingham University Business School ( email )

Jubilee Campus
Wollaton Road
Nottingham, NG8 1BB
United Kingdom

Jeffery M. Kadet (Contact Author)

University of Washington - School of Law ( email )

William H. Gates Hall
Box 353020
Seattle, WA 98105-3020
United States

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
222
Abstract Views
2,368
Rank
273,214
PlumX Metrics